Month: November 2016

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Book Review – The Kaleidoscope by B K Nault 


The Kaleidoscope
B K Nault
5 Stars

My Gentle Readers, today’s offering is a real gem. BK gives us a lovely tale of Harold Donaldson, a genius of cyber forensics with the people skills of a rock. Maybe that’s a little harsh but his wife leaves him for a lack of passion and direction in his life.

With the help of a book on management principles from the 1950s, Harold sets out to prove his wife wrong and make real connections with people.

His social life takes a dramatic turn after an encounter with a homeless man on his way to work. Harold buys some bagels for the guy, and in return is given a beautiful handcrafted kaleidoscope. You know the ones we had as kids, but this one is top notch.

The kaleidoscope seems to draw people to Harold in such a way as never before. While he struggles with his newfound friendships, he continues to seek ways to prove his wife wrong by getting a promotion at work. The mysterious powers the Kaleidoscope exhibits are just another complication he doesn’t necessarily want, but cannot seem to rid himself of the device.

Soon enough he’s embroiled in the life of Pepper, his cancer stricken neighbor. Her zest for life is contagious and Harold finds himself drawn more and more out of his shell.

Where did the mysterious kaleidoscope come from? What is the connection between the kaleidoscope’s maker and Harold? Pick up “The Kaleidoscope” today and find out for yourself.

The Kaleidoscope on Amazon
BK Nault’s Website

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Book Review – The 45th Nail 


The 45th Nail
Michael and Ian Lahey
5 Stars

Today my Gentle Readers I have a real treat for those of you into a little history with your storyline. I wasn’t sure if I would like this or not at first, because it is a far cry from my usual science fiction/fantasy reads. However, these authors won me over with their conversational style and intriguing plot. The ultimate conclusion is very touching.

The 45th Nail is a journey of discovery. Robert Svenson is content with his lot in life: teaching French, loving wife, and growing son. A mysterious letter and package from an uncle thought dead for over 40 years changes all that. Now Robert begins a journey to Italy, while telling his wife he’s in Paris working on his French.

Robert’s journey doesn’t start off the way he expects and just gets further off the rails from there. As he tries to understand just what kept his uncle from coming home from World War II, he gets a lesson in Italian history before, during, and after the last Great War. Surprises abound for Robert. Not just about his uncle’s life, but just what he is capable of himself.

A journey like this changes a person in ways they would never expect. Bob’s Uncle weaves a tale of ancient history overlaid with a soldier’s journey through the Allied invasion of Italy.

If you understand Italian and French you will probably enjoy this book more. Even so, the author gives us enough explanation to get the gist of almost every sentence in each foreign language when he uses them.

If you like a journey of self discovery overlaid with a bit of history and dark humor, get your copy of The 45th Nail today.

Official The 45th Nail Website
The 45th Nail on Amazon

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Book Review – Pink Tootsie by T.M. Raskin

pinktootsie
Pink Tootsie
T.M. Raskin
4 stars

My Gentle Readers, this is not a book for the faint of heart, or the easily offended, or the prudish. This memoir details, in a very specific format, nearly 20 years of abuse and drug use by the author. It is not spoiling the ending to say that she is winning her fight against addiction these days.

This book is sad. She fights and fights, constantly losing everything to her addiction. The beginning three fourths of the book detail the minutia of abuses, drugs, jobs found and lost, as well as innocence stolen. Throughout the book we see glimpses of a person who really wants to be better. Her self destructive habits, born from the abuses she suffered in her early years, rear their ugly heads time and again, snuffing her willpower.  The writing itself reads at times like a person rambling about their life, with a quick jump to the past to recall an event left out earlier in the time line.

While I recognize the importance the author places on zeroing in on every abuse and use of drugs, this section of the book dragged on nearly to the point of losing me. It was very hard to plow through to the moment she entered rehab. By comparison, this section of her life moves at a much faster pace, her growth and recovery happening very quickly when lined up against the years prior. I am in awe of the author’s strength and personal fortitude she has found in order to overcome her past, and this section could have been even more inspirational if given more depth of detail.

If you enjoy a story of triumph against all odds, grab this one today.

Pink Tootsie on Amazon

 

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Book Review – The Physic by E. Burden

physic

The Physic (Children of the Dire Wolf Book 1)
E. Burden
5 Stars

Well my Gentle Readers, this is the hardest decision I have made to date on rating a book I reviewed.  I loved the story, I loved the characters. They were real and pulled at my heartstrings. Sadly it needed another once over as I found some rather jarring proofreading errors that dropped me out of the story the author so delicately wove. This would normally make me bump this down to a 4, or maybe even a 3 if the errors were severe enough. However, I was able to quickly overcome these as I needed to get back into this story and in this day and age, an e-book can be quickly updated. Because of these two reasons, I felt I still had to bump this up to a 5 star review.

Taisho is a werewolf in hiding at a church when all manner of hell breaks loose in her hometown of Maraborg. Unknown to most, the villain is far worse than some criminal or evil mastermind bent on world domination. This is where the author shows great genius in crafting a villain who has human level intelligence, but is truly a force of nature. How does one stop something like this? A being with one sole purpose: to convert the entire world into mindless slaves bent to “his?”/”its?” complete command.

The question becomes, how does one stop a force of nature like this? Taisho learns she is the key to both sides of this war and must fight for not only her life, but the lives of everyone she ever comes to care about in both the human and werewolf worlds.

As the world seems to fall apart at the seams, Taisho fights to maintain control of her destiny, learning her place in the werewolf world. Love, a scarce commodity in her childhood, comes to her in the form of another werewolf. This gives her immeasurable strength of will to continue fighting when all seems lost.

Will Taisho and her allies be able to save the world from the abominations running rampant? Will she be able to reconcile her lineage and hold onto the love she has found in a world gone mad? Find out by taking a giant bite out of this read.

 

The Physic on Amazon